Anchovies=common, Pale Ales=not so much

 Friday night we went out to Loriens, probably the only bar in Palma with a 100+ beer selection.  Spain has several large breweries Estrella, Cruzcampo, Mahou, which isnt surprising for the country with the most bars per person on the planet.  All of these beers, however, are pilsners and lacking in the flavor department (fortunately they are always served very cold and from a tap, which makes up for the somewhat malt-liquor-y taste).

So the chance to get a good beer on another hot October day was hard to pass up.  I had the classic Sierra Nevada, which was my first Pale Ale in over a month!  Kelly had the Red Ale from a brewery in Menorca (the second biggest island in the Balearic's).

Bonus points for noticing that the name of Kel's beer from Spain is in English and my beer from the US is in Spanish...

After enjoying our round, we went out for our 9:30 dinner of tapas.  This came with what may be my favorite starter in Spain, anchovies and black olives.  Anchovies here are really more small, salted fish fillets than the canned mediocrity you get at home.  And the olives?  Well, they are fresh Mediterranean olive, so, yeah, they are all sorts of yummy.

Hunting for Advil

After staying out until 5am on Saturday night, I woke up and was informed that I am getting older by the pounding on the inside of my head.  As I stepped out the door at 1 pm and set of to find some sort of asprin I was reminded by the deserted streets of Palma that this would not be easy.  Sunday is without a doubt a day of rest (or recovery) in Spain.  A suburban subdivision in the States has significantly more traffic, car and pedestrian, than a compact city of 400,000+ in Spain on Sun-the day after everyone goes to the discotecas till some ridiculous hour-day.

My first stop was the largest department store in the heart of the city, El Corte Ingles.  Its a combo Wal-Mart/high end department store; aka they have everything, but is really nice (and pricey).  You need some produce, a new computer, to book a vacation, have a key made, eat lunch, and buy a new 3000 euro suit? No worries, hit El Corte Ingles.

So I went to the biggest and most centrally located El Corte Ingles and was met by locked doors, because, well, because its Spain.  Extremely flustered, I was going to head home when I saw the flashing green cross of a 24/7 farmacia.  I wandered in and proceeded to search for 5 minutes for some Advil/Tylenol/ibuprofen with no luck.

At this point I was stuck in that area between "do I keep looking since my head is really starting to annoy me now" and "do I just go home and sleep all day" when the angles of advertising presented me with a gift.  Carrefour.  Prominently above a bench with a sleeping hobo on one end and two love struck teens on the other was a sign proudly displaying to the world that Carrefour is open on Sundays!

Carrefour, for those of you that are out of the loop, is the bigger, cheaper, French-ier version of El Corte Ingles.  Any department store that has its own brand of Whiskey has been around the block a few times.

So, I hopped on the bus and settled in for the 25 minute ride to happiness.  As luck would have it though, this bus went by the smaller, less convenient El Corte Ingles first.  Which, upon passing, I saw was very open.  'Cuz you know, why would you open the nice, big, convenient one?  So, buoyed by the though of not being on a bus for about forever, I dismounted and strolled confidently into El Corte Ingles where I searched for 10 minutes for FREAKING ADVIL.  So finally I tried to make myself somewhat presentable, focused really hard, and asked a bored looking associate where I could find the ibuprofen, which I was told is obviously only at the pharmacy.

This threw me for a minute because I can get BC powder at a gas station in North, South Carolina (the town, thats not some odd typo) and here it is only available in pharmacies where I had already looked earlier.  Whatever.

Fortunately, there was a Pharmacy close by, so I stumbled across the (still deserted) street, walked right in and asked where the friggin ibuprofen is.  To which the Pharmacist walked around behind the counter, pulled out a key, unlocked a drawer, and asked me something about 400 something.  Yes! I dont know if I need 400 painkillers but whatever, it will save me from doing this again.  So she pulls out a shiny, silver 2"x4" box and asks for 4 euros.  Confused, but no longer really caring what I just bought, we made the exchange and I walked out to examine my purchase.

Apparently I bought 12, 400mg ibuprofen tablets, which I found very disappointing on the quantity side but was pretty excited about on the quality side.  So Ill call it a wash.

And thats the story of how I spent 3 hours on a Sunday!

Hola

Here is a little video of our apartment.  There's no commentary because our roommate was sleeping and I didn't want to wake her!  But it's pretty straight forward :)  The location is great- right above a café, a 10-15 minute walk to the train station, 3 blocks from a grocery store, a 10 minute walk to shopping, and near all the major bus routes.  We finally have wifi {pronounced weefee in Spain} and so life is good! 

I'm home today because my school is having a strike day.  Will's school is too but they still asked that he come in and sit there for 2 hours.  Some schools are more strict than others...

When you walk in you can see the kitchen, then the video goes to our "spare room".  Our roommate's rooms and their bathroom is in that hallway.  Then it takes you through the living room, onto the balcony, and into our room!!

Hope all is great back in the States!  Our trip to Ibiza for Halloween is a no go because apparently the island shuts down between September and June.  Who knew!!

World's Smallest Croissant

As seen during breakfast...

We're still waiting on wifi...We had a tease of internet for 1 day and now, no mas.  One day we will be connected to the interwebs.  One day...

And my bike is 100 miles away in customs.  Spain, please do something quick for once and get it to me!

Still working on wifi...

Our wifi situation isn't completely figured out yet, but we're hoping to get it working smoothly this week with the help of our landlord!  We cannot wait.

As you may have guessed, the strike is pretty much over.  Don't ask me what that means because I'm not exactly sure.  But from what I understand, almost all of the schools are back to work and have started their school year {nearly a month after they were supposed to}.  There wasn't a complete settlement- but the government is going to provide English classes for all teachers for the next two years.   After two years, they will be expected to teach 33% of their school day in English.  Major props to these teachers.

Our first week of work went smoothly!  We're each working in two different schools.  Will works in two schools with 3rd and 5th graders, in both. I'm working in one elementary school and one high school with all different ages.  Not speaking Spanish presents a few challenges, but I'm excited to give it all a try this week.  We'll see how it goes :)

More pictures and details to come once we have internet.  Other than that, a trip to Ibiza for Halloween may be on our horizon...!

First day of work

And I'm nearly an hour early... 

So I'm sitting in a park killing some time. Fun fact: Public parks in Palma have free wifi!! 

 

The nice thing about my 30 minute commute to school is that if I take the bus, it's pretty empty. I mean, completely empty...

Off to get my teach on!! Will had to be at school earlier than me. Can't wait to hear how his first day went!!

Xo, Kelly :)

Back to real life

We’re all moved in!  We love our apartment and our new roommates.  We’re living with two other girls.  They’re both super sweet and easy going.  And fluent in Spanish- which is a BIG help when your landlords only speak Spanish.  Videos and pictures of our new home coming soon.

Wednesday was our first day back to work!  Holy long Summer.  It was orientation, where we got to learn more about the program, meet the teachers we will be working with, and meet other people who are from the US, France, Ireland, the UK, and Australia who are doing the same thing we are doing.  It just shocks me how I am reminded every single day how HUGE our world is.  There are so many people out there who are doing amazing things that I am completely unaware of.  And most of them speak multiple languages…

I think of one the coolest parts of our orientation was that we got to see more of the teacher strike up close and personal.  The director who is trying to implement this new language law spoke to us.  As soon as she was introduced, all of the teachers who are striking stood up and faced the back of the room.  Talk about awkward!  The director continued to share her speech with us in Spanish, English, and Catalan, obviously trying to make a point that she was able to speak multiple languages.  The teachers faced the back of the room the entire time she was speaking and when the director finally stopped {about 20 minutes later}, they all faced forward and sat back down. 

Before we went to break, the director’s assistant asked that we all went up to take a picture with the director.  It was obviously an attempt to make it appear like everything is kosher, but it was very awkward and uncomfortable.   So, it was cool that we got to see everything in action… not so cool that it was super weird. 

We start in the classroom on Monday!  Our official job is to teach English to Spanish speaking students.  The most exciting part of this is that we will be working with ALL age groups {kinder to high school} and bouncing from classroom to classroom.  I am really excited to be back in the classroom and hear all about Will’s experiences too J 

Until Monday we plan on filling up the apartment with the basics, getting settled in, maybe doing a little hiking, and hitting up the beach some more.  Will is anxiously waiting for his bike to arrive, now that we have an official address. 

And we’ll leave you with some pictures of what we’ve been doing… We'll add more when wifi allows!

 

 

 

Checking out the town of Sineu, where one of the schools I'm working in is located.  It's about a 45 minute train ride away.

 

Cheers!  Kelly & Will